While not much outlined by universities guides, the UK Guarantor issue prevails in the student let market. It is international students, i.e. both EU and non-EU students that are most often confronted with this issue as they are asked to provide a UK Guarantor when renting student accommodation in the UK.

UK Guarantor is a third party, such as a UK-based parent or close relative, who agrees to pay your rent (and meet the other commitments you have made in your tenancy agreement) if you do not pay your rent or meet those commitments. It is normal for the Landlord or Agency to want to make sure that the Guarantor can meet the commitments they are making. This might involve carrying out a credit check, looking into their annual income from the documents provided or requiring that they own their own home.

At the end of this process it is also likely that there will be a legal agreement to sign or the Guarantor may be required to sign the tenancy agreement. This documentation will set out the legal obligations in case the tenant enters arrears.

Now, while most (but not all) UK students have it easy as they can provide a member of their family or close relative as a guarantor who is UK-based, international student do not. In most of the cases, international students do not have any UK-based person to guarantee their rental payments. Moreover, it is often after international students find a property to rent in the UK that they find out about the need for a UK-based guarantor.

Therefore in many (but not all) cases international students require a UK-based guarantor in order to rent accommodation in the UK in order to assure the landlord that rent is paid no matter the ability of the tenant to do so. This a significant issue for the majority of international students as upon their arrival in the UK, they do not have acquaintances who are eligible or willing to guarantee for them.

Generally if you do not have a Guarantor you will be asked to pay most or all of your rent upfront. If you want to avoid this situation you can apply to UK Guarantor, who can act as your Guarantor for as little as £249.